Enma looked wonderingly at the eight badges of the Vongola region he had collected. The Storm badge was the first he'd won back in Xiu city. The gym leader, Fon, favored fire types, which were at a disadvantage to his own ground types. Fon had smiled at him and presented him the little comet shaped badge. His next battle was in Robotnical city against Verde. Enma had a little more trouble with this one due to the opponents having the ability "levitate" (Verde had Rotoms of every form), but he pulled through and earned the Lightning badge. He went on to get the Sky badge from Luce, the flying type master; the Sun badge from Reborn, the paradoxically deadly healer; the Rain badge from Colonello, the turbulent water tamer; the Mist badge from Mammon the Psychic; the Cloud badge from Skull of the Ghosts; and the Night badge from Bermuda the Dark.
Enma closed the badge case and carefully stored it in his bag. Without it, he'd be unable to challenge the Elite Four. All he had to do was find a way out of Victory Road to enter the League building and officially challenge them. It would greatly sadden him if he were to be turned away for losing his proof of having beaten the eight gym leaders and had to fight them all again.
He continued to walk. He estimated that he'd gone through perhaps a third of the road before he stopped.
Just up ahead of him, Enma could see someone wandering from one end of the cavern to the other as if unsure which direction to go. The person in question looked to be a teen with light brown hair that spiked everywhere. "Hiee?" the unknown teen said in confusion. A Pyroar was lying against a wall not far from him, seemingly unconcerned with his trainer's lost state.
Enma shyly cleared his throat to catch the other trainer's attention and jumped in synchronized surprise as the other person yelped. He screamed in response, which prompted the Pyroar to growl in annoyance. He immediately piped down. No need to bring the attention of a predator to himself.
The trainer's name was Tsuna. He'd been trying to pass through Victory Road like him, but he became confused due to the twisting and interconnecting passages. Tsuna had been wandering along the same pathway for half an hour before Enma arrived.
They decided to team up until they could exit Victory Road. Enma volunteered to take care of trainers and wild encounters, so Tsuna offered to heal Enma's team when needed.
Tsuna and Enma squealed and yelped together the rest of the way through Victory Road as they met hidden trainers and tripped over uneven ground (or perfectly smooth ground, for that matter). Eventually, they made it out on the other side. They laughed happily as they rejoined the sunlit outdoors, sprinting out of the cold cavern.
"Thanks for the help!" Tsuna said gratefully.
"You're welcome, and thanks for healing my team," Enma returned.
They parted at the door to the League building. Enma would continue on to challenge the Elite Four, but Tsuna said he would not. But why was Tsuna in Victory Road if not to get to the League and challenge the Elite Four? He watched Tsuna curve to the side of the building until he left his line of sight. Enma wondered where Tsuna was going, but he didn't let that thought occupy his mind for long. He had a goal to accomplish.
Enma was ready for the next step. He'd restocked on hyper potions and revives and stayed overnight at the center so that his team was fully rested and healed.
He entered the first Elite's room. And inside was…
…not who he was expecting. Instead of the pink ("It's red!") hair of Elite Four G, he saw silver. Instead of a twenty-ish year old man, he saw a teenager about his age.
The sullen teenager took one look at him and scoffed. "Tch. So you're the challenger for today?" The teen removed the cigarette from his lips and crushed it underfoot. "Well, let's get this over with."
Then the teenager shuffled through his pockets for a few moments before pulling out a crumpled sheet of paper. "Let's see…" he hummed. "Ah. Welcome, challenger, to the domain of the Elite Four. I am Gokudera Hayato, and I will destroy you with the might of my awesome strength. Prepare to be defeated by my flames of burning wrath," he blandly read.
Enma huffed out a surprised breath.
What…
What was that?
This was… not how he expected an Elite Four battle to start.
The teenager, Gokudera, caught Enma's blank stare and snapped. He balled up the piece of paper, threw it on the ground, and smashed it into the floor with the heel of its foot. "I KNOW it sounds dumb, but he said I have to read it! Well, I've read it, so there you go!" With a final grind of his heel, Gokudera sighed and stepped back from the obliterated shred of paper. "Seriously, let's get this over with. I'm in a bad mood and I need another smoke."
After pulling through the battle with Gokudera, Enma took a few minutes to restore his team to full health and rest. Gokudera's fire/fighting types had been fast and innovative in their attacks, but they'd eventually succumbed to Enma's persistent and patient retaliation.
Feeling refreshed and encouraged, Enma entered the next room.
The room was painted a light blue with gleaming surfaces meant to imitate ice. Several waterfall lined the walls, and streams crisscrossing the floor carried away excess water. A tall person stood by the far wall.
"Ah? A challenger? Interesting! So you managed to defeat Gokudera, huh? Good work!" the next Elite Four babbled.
Enma stared at the trainer opposite him for a long while. "You're not Asari," he finally managed to mutter. He'd done his research. Asari, the water/steel type trainer, was definitely supposed to be the second Elite Four.
The teen smiled back at him. "Oh, yeah. I'm not. Were you expecting him? Of course you were, hahaha!"
This trainer was the complete opposite of the previous one. Whereas Gokudera was snappish and rude, this one was friendly and welcoming. Enma felt a slight smile stretch across his lips.
The trainer suddenly gasped. "I almost forgot!" He dug around in the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a familiar looking square of paper. "Hum, hum, hum… Here we go." He straightened up and heaved in a deep breath. "Do you know, trainer, the power of the waves, the tides, the pull of the ocean? No? What a pity! Then I, Yamamoto Takeshi, shall educate you! Prepare to be swept away!"
A pause.
Snort.
Yamamoto burst out into laughter. "Who wrote this? That doesn't sound like me at all!" He continued to laugh, his amusement resounding in the room and mixing with the sound of the waterfalls artfully cascading down the sides of the walls. "Ah, whatever," Yamamoto said once he composed himself. He threw the paper behind him, letting it sink into a shallow pool of water. The ink blotched and faded away in the water. "Anyways, let's have fun!"
Yamamoto's water and ice types definitely gave him a lot of trouble. His Walrein alone decimated almost two thirds of his team before his Flygon knocked it out with a Hyper Beam.
Another period of recuperation and he was ready for the next match.
The next room was dark and gloomy with random spots of colored light flashing into existence before just as quickly blinking out. In the center of the room was yet another teenager. By this point, Enma deduced that the cast of Elite Four he was expecting would not be there, so he was not as surprised as the first two times.
"Kufufufu…" the person eerily chuckled. A sudden brightness on both sides illuminated the person for just a second, letting Enma see mismatched heterochromatic eyes and an intimidating smirk. "My next toy is here. How fun."
Shivers crawled up Enma's spine as the older teen languidly moved to pull out a white square of paper. "Ah… Can you predict the future? Did you feel dread fill your heart once you entered this room? Do you see your doom creeping towards you even now? No matter. Accept your fate of defeat at my hands! My name is Mukuro Rokudo, and your fight ends here!"
For some reason, the speech was not as ridiculous as the previous iterations, for all that Mukuro had read it from the same type of script.
Mukuro's psychic and ghost types were hard to hit due to increased evasiveness, but Enma managed to wear them out with strong dark attacks from his Flygon. Mukuro's Spiritomb was especially hard to defeat because of its lack of weakness. A lucky critical hit knocked it out.
The next room was not quite a room. It was more like an amphitheater that was completely exposed to the environment. Enma welcomed the warm afternoon light after the unsettling darkness of the previous room.
Perched on a ledge was the next Elite Four. This one looked to be about the same age as Mukuro and had the same unfriendliness of Gokudera. Disinterested steel eyes slid to Enma, who gulped and took a step back.
"...Herbivore." He was not impressed.
"Huh?" Enma blinked.
A quiet, exasperated sigh escaped the Fourth Elite's lips before he slid off the ledge to land lightly on his feet, barely disturbing the various feathers scattered all over the floor. He shuffled through the pockets of the jacket slung over his shoulders to take out a piece of paper. After a quick cursory read, he narrowed his eyes and viciously tore the paper in half, discarding it on the floor.
"Hibari Kyoya," the Fourth Elite simply introduced. He threw his first ball, clearly not intending to speak anymore. A Skarmory emerged and screeched to the open skies.
That was definitely his most challenging match to date. Most of his moves were ineffectual due to the oppenent's flying types, and he'd had to rethink all of his usual strategies to center around his Golem and Flygon rather than his normal starter, Hippowdon. Golem's Protect definitely came in handy against Hibari's nightmarishly strong attacks. Just what kind of training did he put his team through?
And finally, the last obstacle to his goal was in the next room. Excited but nervous, Enma strode in, trying to exude confidence. He could do it. He would defeat the champion.
That facade fell to pieces once he saw who was there.
"Tsuna?!"
The timid brunet smiled back at him and waved a hand. "Hello."
"Y-you're the champion?"
"Yep!"
"B-but the-the—and—Victory Road!" Enma stuttered.
Tsuna blushed. "I got lost again."
"Lo-lost? Again?"
He nodded. "We can go over pleasantries later," Tsuna said, eager to forget about his embarrassment.
And then Tsuna's demeanor completely shifted.
"For now," he drawled, quickly slipping out that bit of paper, "we'll fight." Tsuna tilted his head down, looking at Enma from an angle. "Greetings, challenger. It is impressive that you've made it this far, but your journey ends here! I, Sawada Tsunayoshi, will end you!"
With a flourish, the champion released his first choice—an enormous Charizard at peak strength. He was starting off strong.
The two of them exited the Champion stadium together and headed toward the Center.
"That was unbelievably fun," Tsuna commented as they waited for their teams to heal. "It's been a while since we've had a challenger like you. I look forward to fighting you again—if you're up to it," he added teasingly.
"Definitely," Enma replied. "And I'll come up with better ways to combat you, regardless of type disadvantage."
"Then we'll be working to make sure we can counter you."
They laughed together and continued to playfully banter until Enma remembered his initial confusion.
"Oh, by the way, when did you become the new Elite Four and Champion? I hadn't heard of this at all," Enma asked.
"Hm? Well, my friends and I traveled together and challenged the Elite Four one after the other. About half a year after that, we inherited the seats when the previous holders decided to retire and travel some more because we were the best they'd seen in a long time. Of course, we had to undergo strict training to ensure we could handle the work and act properly. We officially took over as the Elite Four for just about four months now, so I guess the news hasn't gotten out yet." Tsuna scratched his head. "We didn't really want to publicize it. They'd figure it out eventually. Plus"—Tsuna smiled—"it's always fun to see challengers' surprised faces when we're not who they expected."
Tsuna burst out into quiet laughter when he saw Enma's unimpressed gaze.
Extra: Tsuna's Elite Four Champion Training
Giotto stood on the other side of the field from Tsuna, presenting a mock battle to his trainee. Tsuna was doing well; once he entered a battle, he had the perfect disposition of a champion. He radiated confidence and endless power, much like Giotto.
"Very good, Tsuna! Now, make sure you maintain your posture and a loud, clear voice," Giotto instructed. He called back his Rapidash, which he'd been using to represent a challenger.
Immediately after his opponent left, Tsuna reverted to his normal shy personality. "Okay, Giotto."
Giotto sighed. If only Tsuna could maintain his "battle" personality all the time.
But the sweet smile Tsuna gave him was okay, too.
Extra: Script Writing
"And when they enter, you have to introduce yourselves to the challengers and give a short speech before you begin the match, alright?" Giotto said to his audience of five.
"Question!" Yamamoto yelled, hand raised as if they were in a classroom.
"Yes?"
"What should the introduction be like?"
"Excellent question, Yamamoto," Giotto praised. "The introduction and speech should always include your name—obviously—and just a little something to encourage and motivate them. It's really no fun when the opponent folds from nerves."
Yamamoto thought back to when he fought Daemon. "Oh? Such a tiny mouse crawled in to challenge me? Very well. I, the ruler of the darkness, Daemon Spade, accept your challenge. Nufufu..." "So it should be something like… Hi! I'm Yamamoto Takeshi! Pleased to meet you! I hope you do great!"
From the corner, Alaude scoffed quietly. Yamamoto didn't pay him any mind. After all, his introduction had been something similar. "Hmph. It took you a while, not that it matters. I am Alaude, and you are dead."
Giotto smiled happily at Yamamoto. "Good, good! That's exactly how you should do it! Now, how about the rest of you try it?" Giotto turned to the other four trainees in the room. "How about you, Hibari?"
The black-haired teen barely glanced at him in disinterest but acquiesced if only to hurry up the meeting. "Hm. Hibari Kyoya. I'll bite you to death."
Giotto tapped his chin thoughtfully. "We'll work on that. Gokudera?"
Gokudera leapt up with passion. "I'm Gokudera Hayato! I won't let any of you bastards get to Tsuna!"
Giotto cocked his head. "Almost. You've got the introduction alright. We need to fix the encouragement bit. Mukuro?"
The psychic/ghost trainer smirked. "An insignificant little thing like you can't hope to defeat me. I am Rokudo Mukuro, and I'll be the one to stop you here."
Giotto tsked. "You also need to put in more encouragement. And finally, Tsuna?"
Tsuna squeaked when he saw the attention was turned on him and frantically tried to think of what to say. "U-uh, hi? My n-name is Sawada Tsunayoshi. I am going to be the—I mean I am the—hiiiie?" Tsuna trailed off in confusion.
Giotto nodded. "It's a good start."
Finally unable to take the incompetence of the baby Elite Four, Daemon stood up. "How about I just write it for them? It'll take forever for them to get this right, and I'd rather be in Sinnoh within the week, not by next year." And if they really use the format Giotto said to use, the Elite Four of the Vongola region will lose all respect!
Taking this into consideration, Giotto nodded. "Alright, Daemon! I trust you to write good introductions for them, my friend."
"Of course, Giotto," Daemon purred.
And so Daemon finally got to influence Vongola to be the way he thought it should be… sort of. :P
I tried to fit the Elite Four trainers to types that fit their personalities or image, so even though Skull is a ghost type trainer, Hibari and Alaude are not.
For the purposes and conveniences of this fic, the champion stays the champion until he/she chooses to retire.